


Crystal Longing

by ichikuun



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Reality, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:45:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1488604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichikuun/pseuds/ichikuun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short work on Squad Leader Eren Jaeger finding Levi crystallised years after Levi's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crystal Longing

  Eren gingerly touched the rough paper he always kept in his right drawer. Always the right drawer.

  There was a time when the paper wasn’t yellowed and frayed, instead a pristine white and the penciled drawing yet to smudge and blur. He was always careful with it, but it worsened in condition nonetheless, no matter what he did.

  He leaned back against his chair and sighed, hands still clutching onto the stained paper.

 _How things had changed_.

  In his memory, the ethereal realm of the past, the chairs were always soft and cushy, the cloth practically shining in its whiteness and the wood of its backing gleaming polished in the sun. The chairs were the same shape and essence, but it was no longer unblemished, instead worn and scratched all over, the cloth bursting with seat filling that lost all the bounciness it once had.

  That was not the only thing that changed. The table. The door. Everything had changed.

_Including himself._

  Eren traced the papery faint lines of a sharp chin with his index finger, remembering the prideful bearing of his senior and his trademark stare. It always sent chills down his back when it was directed at him, and yet it intrigued him much. Such passionful and deep orbs of whirling grey, what secret did it hold in its depth?

  It was something that Eren could hardly stop pondering about these days. He asked the person himself, many times, facing the cold grey stone that was very much like the colour of Levi’s eyes, and waited for an answer.

_An answer that never came._

  He leaned back in his chair, the chair Levi used to like, and took a deep breath. This was one of the times he felt like crying, but no tears would come. It was all a numb pain that continued throbbing alongside his heartbeats, strangling him over time with its insidious ways. Eren had learnt to live with Levi’s absence, as much as his traitorous mind continued torturing him by reliving past memories in his sleep.

  It was a weird thing though; every dream had Levi in it. Even those that started with Jean and him fighting would, one way or another, end with Levi making a cameo. It felt like Levi was still alive, with him whenever he drifts off into slumber. Levi would do things like go on cleaning sprees and hygiene inspections. It was all so real.

  And then he would wonder which is the true illusion, reality or dream?

_Thud, thud, thud._

  Hearing the approach of a person, Eren opened the drawer and slipped the portrait in one swift motion, closing it and locking it in a snap.

  “Come in.”

  The panting form of the cadet straggled into his office, seemingly to have run all the way from the stables judging by the mud on his boots.

  “Squad Leader Jaeger, it’s an emergency! Corporal Hanji requested your presence at the expedition site immediately!”

  Eren narrowed his eyes, it had to be urgent, or else the cadet wouldn’t have skipped over the formal salutes and all that bullshit.

  Grabbing his jacket and cloak, Eren dashed out of his office and away to the stables. It didn’t stop him from telling the cadet to clean up the mess from his boots though.

 

-=><=-

 

  Eren kept the horse at a dead gallop for a long distance. It wasn’t really good to do so, but then, Eren had a feeling that even if the horse dropped dead foaming at the mouth, whatever he would find at the expedition site would be worth the horse and his time.

  His gut feeling didn’t stop him from doubting Hanji though. The last time she called him out like this was because of an “absurdly cute titan-chan”, as she put it, and had Eren go through the trouble of helping her bring it back for experiments. That ended in disaster, as much as Hanji tried to prevent it, since she deigned to keep it in the main hall of the Recon Legion (so that if it is harmed, everyone could see the culprit, according to Hanji) and everyone else was terrified of dining with a titan in the room.

  He shook off his thoughts as the destination neared. It was hole they discovered a couple of miles outside Wall Maria. Could something terrible have had happened?

  He spotted Hanji, and then everything else just blurred around him as he noticed her grim expression. The usual Hanji wasn’t like this.

  Eren vaulted off the horse, handing the reins to a cadet whose face he didn’t bother to remember.

  “Hanji-san, is there-“

  He was surprised by a firm hand on his shoulder, and solemn eyes that cut through his thoughts, “You better go down and see for yourself.”

  The hole that made much of a fuss for the whole week gaped darkly in front of him. It stretched fifteen meters in diameter, and the walls of it black as though soot was covering every inch of it.

  The Recon Legion had no proper gear for lowering a person into the hole, which they said was about ten meters deep. So they improvised, using a rope attached to the 3D Maneuver Gear to drop the person down into the floor of it.

  Eren and Hanji were both fitted and lowered within minutes. Eren’s curiosity was piqued and a sense of foreboding heaved at his chest. The drop down was quick, neither of them really bothering with speed limits. Eren’s heart started pumping vigorously, as though he was exercising, but really, it was the atmosphere that made him so tense. The black hole, seen from its bottom, was like a trap that you couldn’t get out of, and the sky a very far entity from your reach. He had little moments to think on such before Hanji tapped his shoulder and led him, into a tunnel.

  Flaming torched lined the walls of the tunnel, lighting up the pathway to wherever they’re heading to. It wouldn’t be accurate to say Eren was scared, yet it gave him the creeps. And to be honest, he would’ve never guessed what lay in the end of the tunnel.

  They must have passed twenty torches or so, before they reached _the place_.

  The place.

  Eren was hit by lightning, not literally, of course, but he was shocked, in many layers of emotions.

  Sad? Not really, but what could you say knowing the object of your ten-year love froze into a crystal in front of you?

  Happy? Yes, to see him, but no, those lips were too blue to be good for Levi.

  Surprised? Perhaps. Is he even feeling anything right now? It’s all so numb, from the whirlwind of emotions and pent-up feelings.

  All he knew was his body on autopilot, collapsing into a mess of tears in front of the crystallized Corporal. His hands clawed at the hard gemstone, tears blurred his vision worse than blood in his eyes. He felt so hollow, so empty, just crying and all tears.

  Crying for what?

  Mourning his Corporal?

  But Levi wasn’t dead.

  Crying out of happiness?

  But Levi wasn’t alive either.

_If anything, Levi’s discovery made things worse._

**Author's Note:**

> You might think this is weird or whatnot. This is just an interpretation of an Alternate Reality where Eren loses his titan powers in a huge battle where Levi fought to the death and humanity is stuck in the continuous cycle of killing and being killed by titans.  
> I dug this up from my files after leaving it to age for so long, thank goodness I didn't forget about this little piece. Thanks for reading anyways!


End file.
